Himitsu Kitsune
by AnimeDreama
Summary: The mother of the 9-tailed Fox has been set free. She adopts Naruto, who holds her son within him. She makes a deal with the Shinigami. She teaches Naruto, finds Gaara and teaches her son some humility. What could go wrong? How bout the Ninja war?


**Author's Note: I've had this on my computer for god-knows how long. So I've decided to do something with it instead of it just collecting cyber-dust or sumthin! So, please enjoy, read and review at the end.**

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><p><strong>Prologue Freedom of the Secret<strong>

It was a dark, lonesome and grey room, no cracks, no markings and no windows. A bar door was the only entrance and exist. A metal, hard bed lay at the back of the room, bolted to the ground against the wall. A toilet sat at the right corner next a sink, no mirror. A shower stood at the left, no curtains to hide whoever would get under the tap.

The only occupant in the room stood in the middle of the room, arms folded over her chest as she glared at the patrollers prowling back and forth every hour. Her hair was the most astonishing red, like blood, pulled back in a low ponytail tied with a black hair tie with bangs coming down her face on both sides. It looked as though she hadn't washed it or brushed it for a long period of time. Her equally strange blood red eyes flashed in the poor lights from the hallway outside her cell in different colours, slanted, giving more sharpness to her eyes. Her lips were a light rose, the top lip thinner than her bottom lip which had a scab from where it had previously been bitten. She wore a black singlet shirt and a jacket, black combat pants and black joggers. She wore a simple chain around her neck with a red ruby pendant of a fox on fire.

She stood with her arms folded across her chest, still and as silent as a stature, a blank mask crossed her features, impenetrable and cold. She looked like a wild animal waiting for her chance to strike; and when she did strike, no one was going to evade from her wrath. Suddenly, a shadow appeared from a dark corner, and a man with hair as the darkest night which was all in a tangled mess of spikes, which split over his back which carried a blood-red cloak. His eyes were as red as blood and glowed like coal in the fire, and three comma-like markings were around the pupil, like the points of a triangle.

"Is there something you wanted, Madara?" her soft, indifferent tone came as an eyebrow twitched upwards in question.

The man smirked, showing perfect straight and white teeth.

"I have information for you" he said as he stepped forwards, holding a scroll. "Would you like to take it, Himitsu?"

She snorted; it was just like Madara to call her by her codename when he knew that she knew that he knew her real name. Himitsu only meant secret. Such a thing perceived impractical to its usage since she was anything but a secret. Many had seen her as their final sight before death. The tranquil sigh as life's breath escaped as the lights to the window of the soul shut and blackened with shadow's bite.

Yes, she was anything but a friendly greeting.

She didn't reply to him as she stared at him indifferently from the corner of her eyes and sneaking a deft hand to the scroll, and taking it from Madara's grasp. Madara smirked to himself and vanished as Himitsu promptly hid the scroll in her back pocket. She covered it with her shirt and retained her previous position before the guards swept by once again.

An alarm buzzed above and instantly drew the attention of the guards.

Himitsu raised an eyebrow and chuckled darkly before she turned and grabbed a backpack and stuffed it with all she owned and found a note on her bed with Madara's insignia upon it: The Uchiha Fan. She opened it up to find the security card. Without further adieu, since she knew that the distraction wouldn't last forever, she hoisted the bag over her shoulder and approached the bars.

It had been a long, long time since she had seen daylight all those years ago.

She thought she rather deserved a little sunshine.

Smirking as her eyes lit with a dangerous gleam, enough to make a demon cringe in sympathy for whatever poor bastard came across her in the dark. She prowled the halls of her home, her prison, and towards escape. Delicious, addicting freedom – she could barely wait to sink her teeth into it.

So long had she wished for it.

Ironic it was, that the man who put her there in the first place, would be the one who set her free.

Kitsune Akuma, as her name: who she was and what she was: fox demon.

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><p>"Master Hokage! Akuma has escaped!"<p>

A panting chunin gasped at the Hokage from his place on the floor, having miraculously evaded more than just traffic.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage set a worried stare upon the head of the man who lay shivering in fear at his feet. Suddenly, a dark and dangerous presence of smouldering rage prowled into the Hokage's room and the Village Hidden in the Leaves most heavily guarded creature stepped into the room. A deceptively friendly smile played upon her sensual lips as her slitted eyes darkened under her lashes as she peered through them at the Hokage.

"Pray tell me where my son Yoko is" the demon demanded with a curl of her lips as they stretched into a smirk of arrogance that she—without a doubt—could back up with graceful ease that could put the Hyuuga and Uchiha to shame.

"Sealed" Hiruzen replied, deciding it was best not to lie to the demon.

An enraged hiss enveloped the room as her rage increased to boiling. She stepped towards him, eyes flashing with flames. Hiruzen tensed under the pressure of her rage, but did not dare move.

"Give me the child who you have hosted my son with" she snarled. Her fists clenched in a tell-tale sign that she was getting as aggressive as her nature demanded, "As is my right. The child who holds my son will inevitably become my son also. Release that child to me and you will be spared my wrath. Too long have I been caged away from the splendours of the world where I too have the right to roam unfettered. Should you not... the consequences, would be most... severe."

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki" Hiruzen replied, "You may take him, but may I beseech of you, a deal?"

Kitsune's eyebrow cocked as she regarded the aged human before her. Hiruzen tensed further, refusing to back down as he stared into the demon's eyes. Suddenly, Kitsune's killing intent dropped down, her chakra pressure receding to allow him to breathe once more. She sat down leisurely on a chair in front of his desk, blood red eyes unwavering, calculating in their cunning gleam.

"I'm listening, mortal" she replied. "Though it surprises me that you would risk a deal with the devil."

"Such is my line of work" the Hokage replied somewhat weakly as he sat down.

"You are either very brave" Kitsune stated with amusement, "or very foolish. Pray that it is not the latter."

The Hokage smiled fleetingly before adopting a serious expression and staring straight into the demon's eyes with steely determination, unblinking.

"I only ask that Naruto come back here for the Chunin Exams when he is thirteen, to be graduated here as a ninja. As was his father's wish."

Kitsune stared at the elderly man and saw the compassion he had for whoever this Naruto Uzumaki may be.

It would prove disastrous, but she would rather her son have a strong, cunning and intelligent host rather than an impulsive, air-brained idiot. Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she saw the steel determination that always amused her. Humans were such short-lived creatures and yet they were capable of so many things. It was with grim humour that humans and demons could almost be related; both having a strange fascination and thrill for the fight on the battlefield; death, greed, lust and power, which were all things that made evil – all things that humans and demons were susceptible to.

"I will raise him as my own" Kitsune said finally. "He will return when he is thirteen with a team of his own with me as his instructor for I will allow no other. Do not worry mortal. No one dares touch a hair of what is mine for fear of their consequences."

"And what is that?" the curious Hokage just had to ask.

Kitsune smiled something dark and dangerous as her teeth bared into a terrifying grin before turning away with a dark chuckle in her throat. Hiruzen suddenly felt a fear, a fear ingrained in humans from a deep seated fear that lay in the hearts of all humans; the fear of the knowledge that such a creature could kill him, and that such a creature would have no qualms about doing so.

"Me."

Then Kitsune was gone.

Hiruzen was left in his office, with nothing but a summoning scroll for his eyes only, lying ever-so-innocently upon his desk.

A fiery-red fox seal burning brightly amidst the shadows in which it was revealed.

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><p>Naruto Uzumaki, the village pariah, not that the four-year-old knew that, but the villages did.<p>

He was hungry, he saw all the other children getting something to eat while he got nothing. Glares of ice cold burning hatred scorched him when he was about to move, so he sat and stared at the place where a small piece of bread stood. It was nothing but the corner of a crust of bread. Suddenly, a fierce flame burnt the orphanage in its fury as a mystical demonic presence appeared. The adults and children ran for cover, but were soon frozen stiff with fear as the eerily beautiful woman appeared.

"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?" she demanded as she stepped toward the head mistress of the orphanage.

"The-the d-d-demon b-b-b-b-brat?" the head mistress asked, stuttering through her fear.

"Yes you ill-disguised buffoon!"

The woman quickly pointed to a pathetic-looking young boy of four years in a desolate corner where no one had offered shelter to him.

"Insolate wretch!" the beautiful woman snarled. She turned fully towards the woman before her, eyes unmerciful, "You dare deprive this child food and shelter? I fail to see how you are human. No matter" she continued, smirking, "You will not live to see tomorrow's dawn."

Before the woman could scream, the strange woman plunged her hand inside the other woman's chest – and crushed her heart. Numerous screams resonated through the orphanage as all the children ran along with the adults, while the Naruto-boy stayed put, staring entranced up at the strange woman.

"Who are you?" he asked, not even the tiniest bit afraid.

The woman smiled gently as she crouched so that she was eye level to him.

"My name is Kitsune Akuma. I am your mother now. Do you want to come with me?" the woman asked gently, her eyes just as gentle and concerned.

Naruto looked around the cold and dark, lonesome and grey room, no cracks, no markings and no windows. Then he looked at the red-coloured woman before him, and smiled.

"Yes" he said, and hugged Kitsune.

"Then it is time for us to go, young kit" Kitsune whispered gently into his hair, "For now, sleep. You will arrive home where you belong in the morning. Rest now, you are safe, and you are loved."

"Goodnight" Naruto yawned as he fell asleep in comfort and safety in the demon's arms.

"Dark dreams dwell deep down" Kitsune whispered as she turned around, "within desolate dreams of shadow where light cannot be found within, but do not fret, light shines within you, stronger and brighter than any other I've known. I shall seek to split my Yoko and you, my Naruto, apart so you shall both be free and loved together as two instead of one. No one messes with what is mine. Nor my children, and gets away with it... _alive_ that is."

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><p>As Kitsune left the orphanage and the village, she came across the path of an Uchiha. He had the look of one who was searching for someone, and yet, unlike other human children she had seen, this one did not ask for help from the adults around him.<p>

"Young boy, to where do you roam?" she asked him.

The boy stared up at her with deep desolate, dark eyes filled with more than just a child's innocence.

Kitsune smirked inwardly at the knowledge that such a boy was an Uchiha, a child conceived from a human-demon relationship that occurred years ago to form the Uchiha from the Hyuuga, who were also relatives of half-breeds as were all who had blood lines. There was not a ninja in the world that did not have some demon blood running in their veins... even those who had not history of any kind with demons.

"I am finding my mother" the boy replied tonelessly, "I am not allowed to speak to strangers" he added, as if it was an afterthought, but important nonetheless.

Kitsune smiled and crouched before him, careful with the sleeping body of her sons.

She looked into his eyes as she spoke to him.

"I know your mother and your father... I know all of your line" she replied, and then gave the boy a necklace from her pocket; it was an old family heirloom to those who she deemed worthy of having it. "I see more depth to you than of any other of the Uchiha" she whispered to him. "Spill your blood upon this necklace and think of me, and I shall come. Pray it is not for destruction and misery to which we meet again. Farewell, young boy and train well and hard. I look forward to seeing you grown up."

When the boy looked down at the necklace that he didn't know he would wear for the rest of his days.

He looked back up, but found the strange red-haired woman gone.

"Itachi!" his mother's voice came from the distance and the young ninja ran towards his mother.

His thoughts lingered on the strange woman whose dark-velvet; melodious voice would haunt his dreams for years to come.

Little did he know that his sense of style would also come from the strange woman whom had never given him her name: a low ponytail with a red hair tie with bangs on both sides of his face, a style of old, shared by both genders for demon fox in human form, or even those of half.

Kitsune was a real influencer without even trying.

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><p><strong>Chapter one<strong>

Naruto's eyes opened to a cream-wall-coloured room with an orange quilt and blue sheets. Wood-carved furniture and a balcony which stretched into a view took the four-year-olds breath away as he watched the sun's rays illuminate the room/

"It is beautiful, is it not?" the gentle voice of Kitsune came from behind him.

Naruto turned to face the smile that so many children on the street he had seen been given to them by their own mother: a loving, care-for-you smile.

"Very" the four-year old nodded ecstatically, but then grinned slyly up at her from where he was hugging her, "but not as pretty as you."

Kitsune smiled and picked the child up into her arms and into a warm, cocooning embrace.

"If you say so, little kit." Then Kitsune placed Naruto down and handed him a pair of black pants, an orange shirt and some underwear, "Now I am assuming you know how to get dressed. Put these on and then go straight towards the stairs and into the kitchen. You will know where it is when you smell the cooking."

"OK" Naruto replied, and hurriedly got dressed as Kitsune went downstairs to serve up the rest of the breakfast: ramen.

While not particularly a good and healthy breakfast, she knew ramen had ways of bringing humans into familiarity. It boded well that she knew Naruto loved ramen; it would make him feel at home, but then reminded herself that those foolish humans hardly did make one for him. So she would give him one. Host of her real son or not, this boy needed her and she was not that heartless. The sound of pattering feet she hadn't heart in many, many years met her ears and brought her out of her thoughts and into a fleeting memory of her first child, before smiling down at Naruto's exuberant expression.

"Hungry young one?" she asked mischievously.

Naruto nodded, and then sniffed the meal and his eyes went wider.

"RAMEN!" he yelled gleefully and sat right at the table and was about to dig in when Kitsune slapped the back of his hand lightly.

"Manners, Naruto!" Kitsune barked, before turning a softer gaze unto the four-year-old child, "You must wait until I have also sat down to eat with you Naruto, like a family."

"Ok" Naruto sniffed.

He obediently waited until Kitsune had sat down and nodded at him – then he fired into that bowl with gusto as though he had never eaten before.

Kitsune sighed. She had plenty of work ahead of her. Damn those mortal humans and their grudges and need to place the blame on something so innocent. Staring down at the human child, she vowed she'd give him a demonic upbringing worthy of any fox demon, and perhaps she could invite the Snakes over. It would prove rather entertaining to see Manda again, and perhaps she would see into the rumour of Shukaku having a new host.

It seemed time was having some interesting surprises ahead of her.

First the mission of separating Yoko from Naruto without killing Naruto, which looked like a deal with death was waiting. Lucky she was a friend of the Shinigami (Death), or it would prove quite infuriating. It would be quite entertaining, to say the least.

She couldn't wait.

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><p>Naruto had just gone to bed for a nap (with the help of a little sleeping draft she cooked up), and so, Kitsune went outside.<p>

She entered a forest and pricked her finger and summoned Manda to her, since Manda adored and worshipped the bloody ground she walked on. They had once dated many centuries back, but truth was obvious: he was a snake, she was a fox: reptile and canine, didn't really work, although the affections stayed. Even if she could shape shift into a drop dead sexy snake, but she preferred her real form... speaking of which.

When the puff of smoke signalling the arrival of Manda came, Kitsune had shifted into her true form: a blood red fox with a black shuriken-shape mark on her forehead with a white crescent moon upon her left shoulder. She didn't question their existence upon her, like she didn't question the fact that she had teeth.

"Kitsune?" Manda asked, and then his serpent eyes lit up and he uncharacteristically squealed and caught Kitsune into a bone-crushing serpent-embrace.

"Now, now Manda" Kitsune chuckled as she grabbed the back of his serpent head lightly with her teeth, "One might think you are younger than your centuries proclaim."

"It has been a long while since last we met, Vixen" Manda replied indignantly as he sniffed the air arrogantly before shape-shifting into his human form, Kitsune following.

Manda had purple hair the same colour as his scales and burning yellow eyes, shaped like a snakes. He retained his serpentine features even as a human, as in scales along his eyebrows, a forked tongue behind fangs and a lithe, sinewy body that was as flexible as any snake. He could beat a ballerina in grace and flexibility... some of the things he could do still made her flinch at the thought that he might possible snap his bones.

"So, what brings you to summon me in the human world?" Manda asked as he followed Kitsune as she walked towards a house.

"You will see once I show you" Kitsune replied.

Manda rolled his eyes. There was never a day when Kitsune gave a straight answer, it proved futile to always get her to answer in a straight sentence or even the simple affirmative yes, or the negative no, but then again, it wouldn't be Kitsune if she didn't. He followed Kitsune into a bedroom to see a blonde-haired four-year-old human child sleeping in a bed in one of the rooms of Kitsune's mortal-realm's house. He had three what looked like whisker-marks on both of his cheeks, and when Kitsune showed him the stomach, he instantly knew why.

"Your son's inside of him" he said as she knelt down beside the bed to peer closer at the seal, and whistled in amazement, "Whatever mortal did this, he sure knew what he was doing!"

"I told my son to never venture to the Land of Fire" Kitsune sighed, "I told him the Uchiha are not to be trusted. "

"It was Madara who hypnotised him into attacking the village, wasn't it?" Manda sighed as he rubbed the human's stomach.

"Yes, the one who also told the Village how to contain me, and as strange as it is, he also freed me" Kitsune sighed and then placed her palm upon Naruto's forehead.

"You care for this mortal?" Manda asked.

"He was treated as though he were one of us" Kitsune replied, and then caught his gaze in steel determination he knew he had no chance of breaking, "I will unseal my son from Naruto without killing either of them."

Manda nodded. He knew how much her children meant to her, in fact, they had once had a child, but due to the babe's mixed heritage, the Council of Demons chose to exterminate the child, and in doing so, they lost Kitsune, their most valued asset. Demon or not, a mother's love goes deeper than anything else... and he too regretted that he could not be there for her when she had needed him most. It was one of the reasons he wasn't known as a nice animal in the human world, which were the only way of getting rid of the anger and hatred without betraying the Council.

Immature, perhaps: but it was more preferable to what would happen should he piss said council off.

"I will get some sealers to work on it" Manda said, "and I will also send word to the—dare I say it—Toads and Slugs for you."

Kitsune's gaze warmed on him and Manda shifted uncomfortably before backing away and coughing into his hand and waving goodbye.

"Manda!" Kitsune called to him, and Manda turned around to see Kitsune standing before him with unguarded eyes before she kissed him lightly on the lips as a thank you, and he fought himself not to deepen it as she drew away, "Thank you."

With that heartfelt gratitude he knew he would never gain more from her heart. He nodded, sending her a last longing glance, before turning away and teleporting him. He had enemy-acquaintances to contact.

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><p>Hours later, Naruto was up and Kitsune had introduced him to clay, which he took up as quickly as ramen—without eating it.<p>

It was then Manda, Gamabunta and Katsuyu appeared, startling Naruto who stared frozen in shock as the animals transformed into humans, and promptly feel into a dead faint. Kitsune chuckled and placed the boy on the couch and wrapped him in a blanket she always kept in the corner before approaching them.

"Snake, Toad and Slug... such a rare sight to see all three together" Kitsune smiled, before she spread her arms out in welcome and waved them to gesture them inside, "Come."

Manda was in his human form, his yellow eyes flashing with anger as a man with equally yellow-eyed with rectangular pupils man smirked at him.

_That_ was Gamabunta—Toad King, he had orange hair and was bulky in shape, but not overbearingly so. He wore his sword strapped to his back just as he did him his toad form, along with his blue shirt with his stomach wrapped with bandages. He wore white pants and those sandals most wore.

Katsuyu was the Slug, she had white hair the same as her slug-body and blue eyes the same as the stipes on her slug-body. She looked serene, kind and gentle. She wore a white flowing long-sleeved dress that reached her ankles, but Kitsune knew that the dress could be quickly freed to show a white tank top and white pants should she ever need to fight, of course while in human form.

"I heard that you were still contained" Gamabunta said as she stared over at Kitsune as she popped out a bottle of sake and four cups.

"I was released, you could say" Kitsune replied as she poured the cups, with a generous helping for the Toad, Snake and herself, while giving the Slug a smaller amount since she knew Katsuyu didn't like getting as drunk as her summoner did.

"By who?" Gamabunta pressed on.

Kitsune raised an eyebrow at him from above the rim of her cup, and Gamabunta knew she was smirking.

"Uchiha, 150" she replied, and then continued drinking ignoring the annoyed and confused looks of her guests.

"Madara Uchiha" Manda told them and heaved a long, suffering sigh as the two instantly lit up in flames, except Katsuyu, she only boiled in anger.

"That conniving two-faced son of a bitch" Gamabunta hissed out, sounding much like Manda before flinging the contents of his cup straight down his throat in an effort to curb his temper.

"I agree" Katsuyu replied, eyes simmering in her anger.

Kitsune shrugged as she poured herself a full cup, a tell-tale sign that something about it bothered her, "Sometimes help comes from the most unexpected places, and despite fearing what may come of it, what choice is there but to take it?"

"But it's Madara" Manda said, "A mortal-ninja human type like him... is what human's describe demons as. "

Kitsune smirked and then shrugged her shoulders.

"Such is the life of one such as me" she said as she stood and approached Naruto who was showing signs of waking up, "Come Naruto-child, there are some friends of mine I wish to introduce you to." Naruto opened his crystal blue eyes and peered up at the three disguised summons. "Now Naruto, these are the three strange creatures you saw outside, they are also my friends. This is Uncle Mandy, Uncle Gammy, and Aunty Katsuyu" Kitsune smirked as she felt two of the three bristle.

"They were scary" Naruto whispered.

"Then why don't you go and talk to them" Kitsune suggested, "They are not as bad as you think. Manda here is especially cute."

Manda flustered and squeaked out 'cute' in an indignant tone before Naruto turned and shyly approached Manda and then hugged him with a squeal: "Uncle Man-chan!" and promptly squeezed his middle in a hug.

Manda stared down at the human-child; those bright blue eyes, trusting and open. He softened in a rare show of affection, and smiled. Gamabunta promptly blushed with embarrassment from witnessing such a thing, and turned away. He would erase all memories of the words 'cute' and 'sweet' from his head at the display of his rival who was practically surrendering to the whims of a young child, before he felt a pair of small arms wrap around him and he looked down to face a bright-eyed mortal.

"Uncle Gama-chan!" Manda also blushed at the display and looked away, pondering his reaction. Humans were a sore spot with him, and he usually ate the—a hundred to be exact—for his payment of service. It would seem he would be unwittingly changing that, and seeing Kitsune's smirk, he just knew that was her plan all along. The Conniving Vixen!

"Aunty Yu-chan!" Naruto smiled, beaming up at the serene lady who smiled and hugged him.

"Why hello Naruto-kun" she smiled and gave Kitsune a smile.

Kitsune shook her head before turning a serious gaze upon Gamabunta and Manda, her eyes narrowing in steely determination.

Both males gulped.

"I want Yoko out of Naruto, but I do not wish harm on Naruto either" she admitted, "Would you two please find ways in which this could be achieved. Manda, you already know, is there anything you have found yet?"

"I'm afraid only Death would know" Katsuyu replied.

Kitsune sighed and looked away. She thought for a few moments, absentmindedly stroking her cup.

"Then to Death, I will ask" Kitsune replied, "Watch over Naruto for me."

Before they could stop her, Kitsune had disappeared.

* * *

><p>The Shinigami – whom Kitsune called Death – was lethargically inhaling a soul that had sold himself to him, when Kitsune appeared. Death almost choked on the soul, but quickly recovered before hastening the process. It would bring him a stomach ache later, but he had not seen Akuma for a very long time.<p>

"Akuma" he said in his raspy voice, "I had thought you were bound in the mortal world."

"I was" Kitsune replied, "but I ask a favour of you."

Death frowned, "Why should I?"

Kitsune sighed, "A human has sealed my son within a boy named Naruto Uzumaki. I am here to ask you to aid me in splitting the two – while keeping them both alive."

"What is in it for me?"

Kitsune sighed, "The souls that are bound within the child that interact with the seal. They are the parents of the child. I only ask that you allow the two to bid their farewells before you take them."

Death grinned. The two souls of those ninjas had thwarted him when they had died. _No one_ cheated him. He would take great pleasure in extracting their souls. However, Kitsune had asked they were to be allowed to say goodbye to their son, and that the son and her own son must be left alive. Otherwise, the terms would be mute and Kitsune would take the human souls for her own.

"I agree to your proposal" he said, "I will split Naruto and Yoko. They will both live the split and I will allow Kushina and Minato to bid farewell to their son. They will have 24 hours to do so. If I do not find them..." he left the threat hanging.

Kitsune inclined her head before showing her true form. She bowed to him, her demonic eyes glaring into his own deathly ones.

"If either of us dishonours our words, we will both face the council" she growled, "I have no desire to. You can trust my word, but can I trust yours?"

"And that is why I like you, Akuma" Death smiled. "I will have to gain clearance to do what needs to be done" he added, "It will take a month to set things in order. Until then, cheerio!"

With a cackling laugh – Death disappeared and Kitsune's lip curled into a snarl. She shifted into to her human form and vanished from the circle of runes and the body of a man who gazed up at the moon in abject horror.

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><p>So? What do you think? Review your thoughts and opinons - as it IS my first Naruto story up :D<p> 


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